Social Media

Alleged Cannibal's Online Trail: Violent Pics, Weird Tweets, QR Codes

Before confessing to killing and eating another man's heart and brain, Morgan State University student Alexander Kinyua left a digital trail on social media and other corners of the Internet.

His online presence paints a picture of a deeply disturbed young man fascinated by violence and warfare.

The 21-year-old Kinyua reportedly admitted to police this week that he killed a 37-year-old man who was living with Kinyua's family, then chopped him to pieces, ate the man's heart and munched on parts of his brain before dumping the rest of the body in a trash can.

Kinyua's posts to Facebook, Twitter and YouTube in recent months offer a bizzarre and macabre window into his mind. Kinyua started a Twitter account in early December with the handle @COREeye67, according to a Baltimore Sun investigation into his online activity.

His first original tweet, on Dec. 9, read simply and cryptically: "FIRST PRINCIPLES OF COSMIC COMMAND."

He then tweeted 34 principles in a row, each individually numbered, and capped off the spree with this message: "STAY TUNED FOR MORE AS YOU PONDER EACH TWEET DEEPLY. REVIEW, REFLECT, SEARCH OUT ITS MEANINGS WHICH ARE SURELY THERE."

On Dec. 10, he tweeted more than a hundred messages, seemingly at random, to businesses and celebrities. Most of them read "AWESOME JOB" or "COME HELL OR HIGH WATER!!!! KEEP ON KEEPING ON!!!"

He posted his last tweet on Feb. 25. Earlier that day, he replied to a tweet by Parenting magazine in which he referenced a friend who is "a veteran exorcist."

On Facebook, Kinyua's profile picture depicts a pair of lions mating. His gallery of cover photos include a painting of a shackled and shirtless man fighting off bears, an image from what appears to be an Alien vs. Predator scene, and the cover of writer Sophia Stewart's The Third Eye.

On May 17 of this year, not long before his alleged act of cannibalism, he posted a pair of QR codes, each with the caption, "CRACK TEAM ALL DAY, ALL NIGHT!!!"

Kinyua currently has 96 Facebook subscribers. He joined Facebook on December 11, 2008.

Kinyua's YouTube account, also under the handle COREeye67, has been deleted by the company because of third-party complaints over copyright infringement. According to the Baltimore Sun, he left comments on videos posted by the National Association of Pershing Rifles, a non-profit ROTC group.

He also had a self-published podcast on the website blogtalkradio.com, called Warrior Syndicate Radio. His profile picture there is a head shot of him apparently slathered in war paint.

The show's description reads: "Warriors skilled in combat or warfare, especially within the context of a tribal or clan-based society coming together to form a syndicate learning portal for Warrior Clans."

Check out the gallery below for a look at Kinyua's online life. And let us know in the comments: is a social media trail like this useful for understanding the mind of an alleged killer?

Confessed Cannibal's Chilling Digital Trail

@coreeye67

Kinyua started a Twitter account in early December with the handle @COREeye67. This tweet was from early March, before the alleged crime was committed.

Facebook Timeline

Alexander Kinyua's Facebook cover photo is an image of Richard Ansdell's 1861 painting, "The Hunted Slaves," which shows two runaway slaves facing dogs that have been set on them. His profile picture is of two lions mid-coitus.

Facebook Questions

Kinyua posted a question to Facebook on May 17, before the alleged crime. Respondents, it seems, have added their own answers.

QR Codes

This QR code is on the of the few public posts on his Facebook Timeline.

YouTube page removed

Kinyua’s YouTube account has been deleted by the company because of third-party complaints over copyright infringement. According to the Baltimore Sun, he left comments on videos posted by the National Association of Pershing Rifles, a non-profit ROTC group that he also likes on Facebook.

Podcast

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